The Dream
by Sydney47
Summary: Syd has a dream that brings up her fear of moving forward with Vaughn. Then she and Vaughn discuss her fear.


_The Dream_

The sky was a perfect blue. Sydney stared up at it as she lay in the shade of a tree on a grassy hill. There wasn't a thing in the sky to mar the color. Not a cloud for miles, no kites or airplanes, nothing but open space and the sun shining brightly.

Sydney took a deep breath. The air was fresh and cool from a breeze blowing lightly. It rustled the leaves of the tree and carried the sound of the birds chirping.

Even surrounded by all this peace of nature, Sydney wouldn't say that she was happy. In fact, her apprehension grew with each passing moment. Suddenly, all sound stopped with the wind. It was just as peaceful as before, more so… One could even say that it was dead quiet. Disquieted, Sydney sat up abruptly and looked around her.

In her contemplation of the beauty of nature, Sydney had almost forgotten that Vaughn was lying by her side. She looked at his face to see his eyes closed. She smiled. He was asleep.

Relaxed once more just at the sight of him, she lay back down and reached her hand out to touch his chest. Surprisingly, she felt something sticky and warm that she had not seen on him before.

_Blood._

Alarmed, she sat up once again and looked at Vaughn. A gaping hole was in the middle of his chest, blood trickling out.

"Vaughn!" she screamed.

She frantically felt for his pulse. There was nothing.

"Vaughn, no! No!"

* * *

Vaughn awoke to find Sydney thrashing next to him.

"Vaughn, please no!" she muttered.

Concerned, Vaughn shook her awake.

She opened her eyes to see the dark shape of a person next to her.

"Vaughn?"

Vaughn sat up and turned on a light. "Yeah. Syd, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she breathed out, sitting up and putting a hand to her head.

Not wanting to meet his worried gaze, she got up and said, "I have a headache. I'll just go take something."

Vaughn sighed as she walked out of the room. Not wanting to allow her to avoid him like that, he got up and followed her.

He walked out into the living room to see Sydney making tea in the kitchen with her back turned to him. Studying her quietly, he noticed from the way she was bracing herself on the counter with her head down, she was trying to calm herself down.

He approached her cautiously, not wanting to startle her further. He reached his arms around her waist from behind and placed his chin on her shoulder, holding her tightly to his body.

She sighed and brought her hand to the back of his head, as if to pull him closer to her.

"Syd," he began, not willing to let her off the hook with a simple hug, "this is the third time this has happened this week. Maybe you should talk to Barnett."

She turned in his arms and glared at him. "I don't need to talk to her."

"Then talk to me." He said it simply, but he used his eyes to say much more than that. _I'll listen. I'll say whatever you want me to say, do whatever you want me to do. Just talk to me._

She sighed again, this time half in defeat and half in relief that she had the support of this wonderful man. She acquiesced. "Let's go sit down."

As they seated themselves on the couch, Vaughn pulled her close and planted a kiss on her neck. "Tell me about the dream."

She took a deep breath and recounted the dream for him, always keeping her eyes away from his.

When she was finished, Vaughn got up off of the couch and kneeled in front of her. "Syd… Sydney, look at me." His commanding tone made their eyes finally meet.

He took her hand in his and brought it to his chest where she could feel his heartbeat. It was steady, strong, and even a little faster than normal just from her touch. Keeping a steady gaze with her, he said quietly, but strongly, "I'm okay, Syd. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere."

"But how can I know that you'll always be here?" she whispered. "You once asked me what I was afraid of in regards to moving our relationship forward, and I told you; I'm afraid of losing you again."

"Syd, if we move forward, that will only bring us closer. I would never want to leave you then, and I couldn't even imagine doing that now. I know that you're still affected by my relationship with Lauren, but you have to know, Syd, if I hadn't moved on from your death, I would have died too. I know you wouldn't have wanted that for me, right?"

"Of course not," she said adamantly.

"'Of course not, you would have,' or 'of course not, you wouldn't have'?" he asked teasingly.

She threw a pillow at him. "'Of course not, I wouldn't have,' you—"

"Caring, lovable man?" he grinned.

"Something like that," she smiled.

Returning to seriousness, he said, "I'm here for you now, and that's what counts, right?"

She nodded and reached her hand up to his face. He nuzzled his cheek into it, then kissed her palm.

"It's just that…"

"What, Syd?"

"Well, anything could happen to break us apart again, on or off the job. I don't know if I could bear being without you again."

"Anything _could_ happen, but nothing is happening right now. Just try to take this one day at a time."

"You're right." She smiled as she kissed him.

"So, can we move our relationship forward?" he asked.

"If you don't leave me by tomorrow, we'll see."

He smiled.


End file.
